Christmas Angels - What Christmas is All About!

You will have to scroll down on the  right side and put the background music for the blog on pause for a couple of minutes while this song plays.



 http://youtu.be/Ah6C7-s-Myk

WOO HOO!

I know it isn't Chirstmas but I have to share a music video done by our son, Jonathan. 

It is a cover of Tim McGraw - Highway Don't Care (Jhonny K & Jodi Lee cover) on Itunes & Spotify

It is great!

http://youtu.be/lYV0ECgb8n4

Please listen and share, your gonna love it. Thanks to all my friends who have been invited and accepted the invitation. This is as good as any music you'll ever hear.

Chirstmas 2013 Has Begun!

Christmas Gifts for Our Exciting  Eleven Grandchildren

We have eleven adorable grandchildren.  Times even $10.00 each is $110.  I like to give them something meaningful for Christmas.  Last year I gave them AC books from Walgreens, there is a post about it,  but these books were ABC books featuring each of them.  I worked on them for several months - they all loved them.

A friend of mine just sent me a link for another idea that I think I am going to do.  http://www.inkgarden.com/  type in pillowcases to see the project I am choosing. There are lots more things there that would be so great for Christmas gifts. 

This is the kind of a thing I can start in August and get it ready for them.  If you go to retail.net or type in coupon ink garden you can get some coupons for big savings.

Just wanted to share - I think prep for 2013 has alreay begun!  Add a book or something like that to this and it would be a great gift for all ages!

Ornies for Our Kids

I made these ornament sfor gift tags for our g-kids gifts this year - they turned out so cute!  I hope they keep them from "Mimi" and "Papa" for a long time and remember when they see them how much we love them!

Ornies from 2012 ORnament Exchange

Aren't these adorable!  These are the ornies from this years exhange.  They are all so fun - so many taleneted ladies participated this year from all over the USA.  

Christmas Party

Our family will be here for Thanksgiving this year so our Thanksgiving and Christmas Celebration with each other will be over Thanksgiving Weekend.

Here are some of the activities we are doing:

Thursday
Dinner and Thanksgiving for Our Wonderful Blessings
We are gonig to do sky lanterns when it gets dark - with our blessings

Friday
The kids are all coming over to have a Belly Painting Party with me.  They are wearing their swimsuits.  I am coloring a bunch of vanilla pudding.  We are putting a tarp in the kitchen and going to have a painting party!  Play twister using the pudding and other color games. I am pretty excited.  After everyone gets cleaned up we are going to make a nativity ornament for them to hang on their trees at home and have a fun lunch.

 moderndaymoms.com

In the evening we are having a girls night and a boys night.  The boys are playing their Risk War - they are so funny!   We will make a Chirstmas Decoration for each of our houses.   I am thinking we will do these snowmen - trying to keep our budget in tact and I have the supplies already for this adorable snowmen!

( Sorry I don't have a website to link this too - it was on pinterst without a link - so sorry I can't give credit)

Saturday
Snow party with the kids - if we have snow we will go sledding.  If no snow - plan B at our house.  Some snow crafts and then a snowy lunch.

In the evening we are going to have An Ugly Sweater Party.  We will play games, have a photo booth and of course awards for everyone.

Sunday
Church and a nice family dinner.  We are doing some family picutres all in Red that afternoon.
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I will finish this post tomorrow - my husband just got home and I need to go and take care of him.

Christmas is coming!  YIPPEE!



ABC Schedule of Christmas Movies

The 25 Days of Christmas Schedule is Here!
ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas begins Saturday, December 1 through Tuesday, December 25! We've got tons of merry movies and premieres for you and the whole family, including the A NEW ABC Family Original Musical The Mistle-Tones. Check out what Santa is bringing you this year below!

Saturday, December 1
Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas at 7a/6c
Richie Rich's Christmas Wish at 8:30a/7:30c
A Dennis the Menace Christmas at 10:30a/9:30c
Miracle on 34th Street (1994) at 12:30p/11:30c
The Family Man at 3/2c
Jack Frost (1998) at 6/5c
Elf at 8/7c & 10/9c
Snowglobe at 12a/11c

Sunday, December 2
Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas at 7a/6c
Miracle on 34th Street (1994) at 8:30a/7:30c
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus at 11a/10c
The Search for Santa Paws at 1/12c
Jack Frost (1998) at 3/2c
Elf at 5/4c
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas at 7/6c & 9:30/8:30c

Monday, December 3
'Twas the Night Before Christmas at 5/4c
Rudolph's Shiny New Year at 5:30/4:30c
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys at 6:30/5:30c
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at 8/7c & 10/9c
Holiday in Handcuffs at 12a/11c

Tuesday, December 4
Rudolph's Shiny New Year at 4:30/3:30c
Mickey's Christmas Carol at 5:30/4:30c
Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too at 6/5c
Jack Frost (1979) at 6:30/5:30c
Frosty's Winter Wonderland at 7:30/6:30c
Elf at 8/7c
Fred Claus ABC FAMILY PREMIERE at 10/9c
Frosty's Winter Wonderland at 12:30a/11:30c
Jack Frost (1979) at 1a/12c

Wednesday, December 5
Fred Claus at 2:30/1:30c
Elf at 5/4c
Home Alone at 7/6c
The Polar Express at 9/8c
Home Alone at 12a/11c

Thursday, December 6
Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July at 4/3c
The Polar Express at 6/5c
Disney's A Christmas Carol NETWORK TELEVISION PREMIERE at 8/7c
Elf at 10/9c & 12a/11c

Friday, December 7
Elf at 3/2c
Disney's A Christmas Carol at 5/4c
The Santa Clause at 7/6c
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause at 9/8c
12 Dates of Christmas at 12a/11c

Saturday, December 8
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at 7a/6c
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at 10a/9c
Fred Claus at 1:30/12:30c
The Santa Clause at 4/3c
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause at 6/5c
Despicable Me NETWORK TELEVISION PREMIERE at 8/7c & 10/9c
Santa Baby at 12a/11c

Sunday, December 9
Rudolph's Shiny New Year at 7a/6c
Snow at 8a/7c
Snowglobe at 10a/9c
Santa Baby at 12p/11c
Santa Baby 2 Christmas Maybe at 2/1c
12 Dates of Christmas at 4/3c
Holiday in Handcuffs at 6/5c
A NEW ABC Family Original Musical The Mistle-Tones (starring Beverly Hills, 90210's Tori Spelling) at 8/7c & 10/9c

Monday, December 10
Mickey's Christmas Carol at 5/4c
Jck Frost (1979) at 5:30/4:30c
Fosty's Winter Wonderland at 6:30/5:30c
The Year Without a Santa Claus at 7/6c
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town at 8/7c
Home Alone at 9/8c
Home Alone: The Holiday Heist at 12a/11c

Tuesday, December 11
Home Alone at 5/4c
The Santa Clause at 7/6c
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause at 9/8c
Chasing Christmas at 12a/11c

Wednesday, December 12
The Santa Clause at 5/4c
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause at 7/6c
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at 9/8c
Christmas Do-Over at 12a/11c

Thursday, December 13

A NEW ABC Family Original Musical The Mistle-Tones (starring Beverly Hills, 90210's Tori Spelling) at 5/4c
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at 7/6c
The Polar Express at 9/8c
Christmas Every Day at 12a/11c

Friday, December 14

Pixar Short Films at 5/4c
The Polar Express at 7/6c
Disney•Pixar's Toy Story at 9/8c
Pixar Short Films at 12a/11c

Saturday, December 15
Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat at 7a/6c
Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Grinches The Cat in the Hat at 7:30a/6:30c
The Little Drummer Boy at 8a/7c
The Little Drummer Boy Book II at 8:30a/7:30c
Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey at 9a/8c
Pinocchio's Christmas at 9:30a/8:30c
A Miser Brothers' Christmas at 10:30a/9:30c
The Story of the First Christmas Snow at 11:30a/10:30c
'Twas the Night Before Christmas at 12p/11c
Frosty's Winter Wonderland at 12:30p/11:30c
Jack Frost (1979) at 1/12c
Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July at 2/1c
Disney's A Christmas Carol at 4/3c
Disney•Pixar's Toy Story at 6/5c
Disney•Pixar's Toy Story 2 at 8/7c
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town at 10/9c
The Year Without a Santa Claus at 11/10c
Jack Frost (1998) at 12a/1c

Sunday, December 16
Richie Rich's Christmas Wish at 7a/6c
Home Alone: The Holiday Heist at 9a/8c
Home Alone 4 at 11a/10c
The Year Without a Santa Claus at 1/12c
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town at 2/1c
Disney's A Christmas Carol at 3/2c
Disney•Pixar's Toy Story 2 at 5/4c
Disney•Pixar's Toy Story 3 ABC FAMILY PREMIERE at 7/6c & 9:30/8:30c

Monday, December 17
Sons of Mistletoe at 11a/10c
Christmas Every Day at 1/12c
Christmas Do-Over at 3/2c
Dr. Seuss on the Loose at 5/4c
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax at 5:30/4:30c
Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat at 6/5c
Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Grinches The Cat in the Hat at 6:30/5:30c
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas at 7/6c & 9:30/8:30c
A NEW ABC Family Original Musical The Mistle-Tones (starring Beverly Hills, 90210's Tori Spelling) at 12a/11c

Tuesday, December 18
The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus at 11a/10c
Frosty's Winter Wonderland at 12p/11c
Santa Who? at 12:30p/11:30c
The Christmas List at 2:30/1:30c
Disney Prep  Landing at 4:30/3:30c
Disney Prep; Landing: Naughty vs. Nice at 5/4c
Miracle on 34th Street (1994) at 5:30/4:30c
Home Alone at 8/7c
The Polar Express at 10/9c
Willy Wonka  the Chocolate Factory at 12a/11c

Wednesday, December 19
Christmas in Boston at 8a/7c
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory at 10a/9c
Three Days at 12p/11c
The Family Man at 2/1c
Home Alone at 5/4c
The Polar Express at 7/6c
Disney's A Christmas Carol at 9/8c
Three Days at 12a/11c

Thursday, December 20
Beverly Hills, 90210 HOLIDAY MARATHON at 7a/6c – 11a/10c
Christmas Caper (starring Beverly Hills, 90210's Shannen Doherty) at 11a/10c
Secret Santa (starring Beverly Hills, 90210's Jennie Garth) at 1/12c
A NEW ABC Family Original Musical The Mistle-Tones (starring Beverly Hills, 90210's Tori Spelling) at 3/2c
12 Dates of Christmas at 5/4c
Disney's A Christmas Carol at 7/6c
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at 9/8c
Santa Baby at 12a/11c

Friday, December 21
Christmas Cupid at 9a/8c
Snowglobe at 11a/10c
Santa Baby at 1/12c
Santa Baby 2 Christmas Maybe at 3/2c
Holiday in Handcuffs at 5/4c
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at 7/6c
The Santa Clause at 9/8c
Holiday in Handcuffs at 12a/11c

Saturday, December 22
Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas at 7a/6c
Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas at 8:30a/7:30c
Disney Prep ; Landing at 10a/9c
Disney Prep ; Landing: Naughty vs. Nice at 10:30a/9:30c
Mickey's Christmas Carol at 11a/10c
Winnie the Pooh ; Christmas Too at 11:30a/10:30c
A Chipmunk Christmas at 12p/11c
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys at 12:30p/11:30c
Rudolph's Shiny New Year at 2/1c
A Miser Brothers' Christmas at 3/2c
The Year Without a Santa Claus at 4/3c
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town at 5/4c
The Santa Clause at 6/5c
The Santa Clause 2 at 8/7c
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause at 10/9c
The Santa Clause 2 at 12a/11c

Sunday, December 23
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys at 7a/6c
A Dennis the Menace Christmas at 8:30a/7:30c
Unaccompanied Minors at 10:30a/9:30c
Fred Claus at 12:30p/11:30c
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory at 3/2c
The Polar Express at 5/4c
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas at 7/6c & 9:30/8:30c

Monday, December 24
Willy Wonka  the Chocolate Factory at 11a/10c
The Polar Express at 1/12c
The Santa Clause at 3/2c
The Santa Clause 2 at 5/4c
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause at 7/6c
Home Alone at 9/8c
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at 12a/11c

Tuesday, December 25
Disney's A Christmas Carol at 7a/6c
A Chipmunk Christmas at 9a/8c
The Santa Clause at 11a/10c
The Santa Clause 2 at 1/12c
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause at 3/2c
Disney's A Christmas Carol at 5/4c
Home Alone at 7/6c
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at 9/8c
The Santa Clause 2 at 12a/11c

Watch ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas Saturday, December 1 through Tuesday, December 25!  http://abcfamily.go.com/site/news-details/25-days-christmas-schedule-here/1031394

Annual Ornie Exchange

We are doing our annual ornie exchange - if you are interested, please e-mail me at funstuff4paula@yahoo.com and I will send you the details.

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(The picture above  is what I did last year for the exchange. 

A friend sent me this pix and I don't know who the

original picture belongs too. 

If it is your's please let me know so I can post it here.  Thanks!)

Adorable Santa

I saw a picture of this and wanted to make it for my niece who was getting married. 

APOLOGIES - I am getting ready to paint so their are a few brushes of paint on the sides of this picture - I MISS PICNIC to crop pictures!!!!!

Step One

 I dug out my Christmas Scraps and I have enough to make like10 of these if I wanted to do it.

 I cut out 24 squares and pieced them together like a mini quilt.                   

Step Two 

 Then I put a back on it - like a mini quilt and ironed it well.

 Step Three

Then I turned the corners down once

 Step Four

Turned the corners over again, ironed and stiched them.

 This is how it looks from the right side

Step Five

I used a dinner plate and traced a circle on a piece of fleece. 

Cut a cirlde of cardboard and then cut it in half.  (Saving the other half for another Santa)  Then I covered the cardboard and glued the fleece on.  Blushed up the cheeks with some red paint, added eyes, a wooden nose and glasses bent from a hanger.

Glued everything on.

I had made the day before yo-yo's with a perler bead in the middle, while watching a movie so they were ready to go.  I made 5 bigger yo yo's and 20 smaller ones.  A big yo yo is the bauble on the top of the hat.  Then there are 4 that go across for the brim and one in the middle of the beard at the chin.  The rest just fit in.

 Here is the finished Santa - sorry again about the paint!  I really need PICNIC!

 Thanks for stopping by! 



Welcome to my Christmas Blog. 

I looked at the Christmas Countdown and saw that we have 108 days until Christmas!  That means it is time to dust off  the Christmas Planning Calendar.

I have been so busy being a grandma that I haven't done a lot of anything else for a while, (we had 7 babies in 2 1/2 years).   I am getting caught up and ready to get my routine back and enjoy all these little people that surround me in my life!

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So I am challenging you right now to take a few minutes and make a rough draft of what you want to do for Christmas.  What people you are buying or making gifts for, decor you want to do and activities you would like to add to your Holiday Celebration. 

(Don't overplan!!!!!!)

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The gift I am making right now are ABC books for the seven oldest grandchildren.  I went to www.Walgreens.com  and created books there.  I have tons of pictures and I found several for each letter of the alphabet for each child and made them there own ABC book featuring them! 

They are adorable. 

 I have them complete and everytime Walgreens has a 40% off coupon for books I order a couple.  I made 32 pages for each of them.  With the 40% off coupon with shipping each book is going to cost about $23.00.  You can do less pages of course.  If you do 20 pages your cost would be about $10.00 less. Also if you pick them up from the store (they have to be under 30 pages to do that) the shipping is free. (p.s. I don't get any kind of kick back from Walgreens!)

  I hope these are treasures they keep all of their lives.  They are literally a history of all the activities they did with me and my husband during the past year.

 Thanks for stopping by!  Thanks for being so patient with me for the last little while.

I hope to add a post several times a week through December.

Wreaths MY Daughter Made

Just have to share with you some of our daughters lovely wreaths - she graduated in Floral Design and has worked for numerous places (including The Grand in SLC) designing wreaths, centerpieces, etc.  If you saw my Fall candlescaping on our mantle - Shay is the one who did it.  Here are a couple of her wreaths she sells on Etsy.  She will be adding more in the next day or so.  Her shop is called "Goldieshine Design"

I am Finally Decorating! Santa Collection

LInking up Today With
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Between U and Me
Crafty Scrappy and Happy
Thrifty Decorating
Fireflies and Jelly Beans
No MInimalist Here


I am normally decorated by now but we have had so much going on - it just hasn't worked.  I decorated the Master Bedroom and one of the guest rooms last week and Saturday brought all the boxes up for the rest of the rooms in the house.  I decided I would try and do a couple of rooms a day so I can do the other things I need to get done this week.  I should be done by the end of the week....I love decorating, I love the lights and the ambience it all brings.  YIPPEE!  I will post pix as I decorate.

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This is part of the Santa Collection - I wish it looked as good in the pix as it does in person.  There are all kinds of Santa's here - homemade, store bought, some out of TP tubes, some crocheted, some are wood, some are fabric.  .  I used to have the spread out through the house but the collection had grown so much I decided to give it a place of it's own. 

There are over 50 Santa's in my little collection - each one near and dear to me.
The little Santa with a bobble on the top is from a round dowel my dad used to put in custom closets.  One of our daughters took it and made a Santa from it - isn't it adorable!

My Frugal Santa Gift
I made this Santa out of tin cans one year for Christmas from my friends - it was a very frugal year and I had to get creative!  All you do is cover the can with fabric,  Cut and curl muslim scraps for the beard.  I made a hat out of a square of fabric and painted on the face with flesh paint and used the end of the brush for the eyes and then dabbed on his cheeks...they really turned out cute!  Always when I see it a reminder of being helped by Heavenly Father when I really needed some help.

 This Santa is from Russia - one of our girls was on a mission there for our church brought it home.

It is a stacking Santa. 

 This Santa is one that my mom had.  It is from the 50's.  When I was a teen I thought it  was a little funny.  When My mom and dad died it was one of the first things I wanted to have.
 This Santa was made by a friend - it is a card holder - Love it!

 This is a box from another friend.  I am so blessed to have such sweet friends.

Like I said there are over 50 Santa's in our collection, these are just a few of them, I love pulling them out each year.  I think of the circumstances around each Santa and am filled with gratitude and love.

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The JOY on the shelf  is a project I did with my mom 25 years ago - it is the only thing I have ever oil painted.  It was the project that let me know I didn't have the patience to be an oil painter artist!  I love it however, when I pull it out.  Reminds me of the afternoon I spent with my mom so long ago

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 This is our main bathroom, or at least a little corner of it.  Out the window you can see the snow that fell today - it is lovely!  This room is full of all the bear decor we have that has come our way over the years.

Ok more pix to come as I decorate tonight!

A Few Christmas Hair Bows

Linking Up With

Sew Can Do!

Sew Much Ado!

Blue Cricket Design
Someday Crafts
Pink Saturday
Shabby Nest
Homemaker in Heels
Answer Is Chocolate

I have two little granddaughters and I have suddenly been thrust into the hair bow world!  There are so many fun ones.  I have been a little hesitant to do this but the cluster type hair bows pulled me in. 
Oue daughter Kalea and I made a bunch - we found fabric, ribbon, embelishments etc and started making yo-yo;s, rosettes, flairs, any thing we could do and then started putting them together.

(Thanks to my darling Model - Esti) 

 These are felt and so showy when they are on.